The first city of a million was built two thousand years ago. But how did they make Ancient Athens and Rome work without petrol, gas or electricity? Professor Wallace-Hadrill finds out.
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Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
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Dan Snow uncovers the lost Vikings in America with Dr Sarah Parcak. As Sarah searches for Vikings across the Atlantic, Dan explores their journey 500 years before Columbus.
In 90 A.D., ancient Rome played host to a sporting spectacle that attracted crowds three times the size of the Colosseum?s gladiator games: chariot racing. Every week, 150,000 fans packed the massive Circus Maximus, not just to cheer on the speed, fury, and danger of the races, but to witness the champion charioteer, Flavius Scorpus. Examine his improbable rise from young slave to arguably the most successful competitor in the sport?s history.
Clash of Ancient Warriors is a series that uses modern science to investigate the mysteries of the most legendary battles from ancient times. Spartans vs Persians in the battle of Thermoplyae, Hannibal vs Rome in the battle of Cannae, The Knights Templar vs Saladdin’s riders at Mongisard, Greeks vs Trojans in the siege of Troy...Military genius and epic battles have led the greatest civilisations to the pinnacle of glory...or the brink of collapse. Join scientists as they hunt for the hidden clues and traces of titanic clashes that could unlock the truth about how one army triumphed and changed the course of history. Unfolding s a countdown to annihilation, each episode builds on the scientist’s investigation to retrace, hour by hour, the dramatic chain of events that ultimately led one side to a bloody victory.
For centuries, explorers have searched for the Bible’s most sacred religious artefacts. One of the most mysterious of these objects is the famed Ark of the Covenant. The gold-plated wooden chest – one of the most instrumental symbols of faith and God's presence – was believed to house the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments. The Ark’s exact whereabouts has long puzzled scholars. Where did it go? And why has it remained such a mystery?
Millions of tourists visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia every year to marvel at its remarkable architecture, yet most are probably unaware that when it was built nearly 1,000 years ago it was even more impressive. Using remote sensing technology, scientists now know what is hidden beneath the nearby paddy fields and jungle: a sophisticated metropolis with an elaborate network of houses, canals, boulevards and temples covering 30 square kilometres that housed three-quarters of a million people. To put that into perspective, London at that time was home to just 18,000. These previously hidden finds tell us a great deal about life during the golden age of the powerful Khmer dynasty.
This gripping documentary miniseries investigates the mystery of two 1300-year-old burial ships from the Viking Age. With dramatic reconstructions and unearthed evidence, follow key archaeologists as they investigate the remains, and reveal how they fundamentally alter our understanding of Viking Europe.
The Bible is both a religious and historical work, but how much is myth and how much is history?
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on British Channel 4 from 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode featured a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining the process in layman's terms. This team of specialists changed throughout the series' run, although has consistently included professional archaeologists such as Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, Francis Pryor and Phil Harding. The sites excavated over the show's run have ranged in date from the Palaeolithic right through to the Second World War.
It was an archaeological find that became global news. An extraordinary mega-tomb, filled with the largest concentration of coffins ever unearthed in Saqqara, Egypt. This four-part series places you at the site to witness this ground-breaking discovery as it happened and follows Egyptologists as they try to determine why all of these mummies were buried together and what this ancient cemetery can tell us about the Egyptian civilization's way of death 2,500 years ago.
It is said to be one of the oldest books in the world. Has it been altered? If yes why? A remarkable journey back in time to see what the Old Testament and the New Testament is hiding from us.
America from the Ground Up was filmed on location at archaeological and historical sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. Join us in the search for clues to America's hidden history: from exploring the ruins of America's lost civilizations, to the settlement of the North American continent in the 19th Century.
A mission to discover and re-create unexcavated worlds still hidden beneath the earth.
Series in which three Australian brothers - Danny, Ben and Sam Wood - set out cycling on the trail of Hannibal, the warrior who marched from Spain to Rome at the head of an invading army.
Archaeologists are making new discoveries about life during the glory days of the Roman Empire.
In 1922, Egypt’s fight for independence and a global mania over Tutankhamun’s tomb provoke an extraordinary struggle for control of the country’s ancient history.
Unearthed decodes mysteries and combines scientific investigations with CGI animation to reveal the hidden secrets of iconic structures and monuments from around the globe to discover how they were designed, built, used, and in some cases, lost and rediscovered.
Despite decades of research, many mysteries remain about the ancient Maya. Now, archaeologists are unearthing new clues that transform long held ideas about how these people came to dominate vast areas of Mexico and Central America. Through immense lost monuments, ancient inscriptions and new forensic evidence, this series tracks the Maya from their earliest origins all the way to the present day, unlocking the dark secrets of the rise and fall of the Maya.
Liz Bonnin joins an international team of palaeontologists in the remote badlands of Wyoming as they investigate a mysterious dinosaur graveyard.
Alice embarks on her most ambitious journey to date, in search of the Roman Empire, travelling 1300 miles through Italy, France and Spain to discover the origins and secrets of Rome’s success.
Travel around the world with author Dan Buettner to discover five unique communities where people live extraordinarily long and vibrant lives.
Based on the popular BBC series running since 1979, the PBS Antiques Roadshow combines history with discovery. Each year, the show visits a handful of cities to appraise items brought in by viewers. Are these items worth a lot of money, more than the visitors expect?
An immersive, action-packed and discovery-led series following International teams of Egyptologists as they unearth the world's richest seam of ancient archaeology - Egypt's Valley of the Kings.
Don Wildman unearths relics from the world's greatest institutions to reveal secrets from the past. He examines each artifact to illuminate history's most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.
Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.
Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979. There are also international versions of the programme.
Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.
An insider's look at the engineering and scientific miracles behind the things that form the modern world.
30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This currently includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts. This entry refers to the main Volumes of the series presented by ESPN
Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.
The epic motorcycle adventure continues in this third chapter of the Long Way series, as Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman journey to glorious landscapes across South and Central America—on the backs of prototype electric Harley-Davidsons.
Award-winning actor and nervous explorer Eugene Levy steps out of his comfort zone for a whirlwind tour of the world's most beautiful and intriguing destinations.
Filmed across six continents, this docuseries uses cutting-edge camera technology to capture animals' nocturnal lives, revealing new behaviours filmed in full color like never before.
MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.
Maritime mysteries—old and new—come to life in this series, combining scientific data and digital re-creations to reveal shipwrecks, treasures, and sunken cities on the bottom of lakes, seas and oceans around the world.
Investigates a wide range of historically compelling topics and the mysteries surrounding each including the Titanic, D.B. Cooper, Roswell, John Wilkes Booth, and more. Fresh, new evidence and perspectives will be showcased, such as never-before-released documents, personal diaries and DNA evidence.
Documentary series investigating why some of the world's most advanced architectural achievements were abandoned.
Experience the wonders of our world like never before in this epic series from Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. Travel back 66 million years to when majestic dinosaurs and extraordinary creatures roamed the lands, seas, and skies.
Steve Martin is one of the most beloved and enigmatic figures in entertainment. Dive into his extraordinary story from two distinct points of view—past and present—as Martin reflects on how his beginnings led to his unexpectedly fulfilling life today.
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.